


in the words of lennon-mccartney

by keptein



Series: don't carry the world upon your shoulders [1]
Category: Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Multi, Polyamory, Threesome - F/M/M, Triad (Relationship)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-18 01:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1410079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keptein/pseuds/keptein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"All you need is love."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	in the words of lennon-mccartney

**Author's Note:**

> this is pretty much an exact ficcing of [cedes's terrific gifset](http://aglassfullofhappiness.tumblr.com/post/81020869183/tasm-au-peter-x-gwen-x-michael-b-jordan-mj). for those of you who've read the only other fic with this pairing (currently!), theappleppielifestyle's [base, structure, roof](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1399267), this is a similar but not identical verse - TASM is canon, so gwen's dad is dead. that's about the only difference. of course, huge thank yous to [cedes](http://aglassfullofhappiness.tumblr.com), who's spent hours with me thinking about how these three would work, and [isabelle](http://theappleppielifestyle.tumblr.com), for being great!
> 
> sorry not sorry for title & summary - this is the fluffiest thing i've ever written, so it's damn well going to have a fluffy title.

“Do you think he'll show?” MJ tilted his umbrella back as he spoke, rain falling carelessly onto the shoulders of his pressed suit.

Gwen looked over at him, her lips pressing together.

“Spider-Man, I mean,” MJ clarified. “I mean, he was there, wasn't he?”

“Yeah,” Gwen said, and had to clear her throat for it to be audible. “Yeah, but I don't think he'll come.” She gave MJ a bitter smile.

He frowned, bumping his umbrella with hers companionably. “What an asshole.”

Gwen shrugged. “Crime doesn't stop, not even for funerals,” she tried to say, imbuing her words with a faux casuelle like a movie star from the fifties, but she choked on the fun.

MJ held his umbrella higher and wrapped his other arm around her, and she tensed from the contact initially, but soon relaxed into the slightly soggy warmth of his suit.

Her eyes stayed fixed on her father's casket, while MJ's flitted around the rooftops in search of something red and blue.

*

Long after her dad's funeral, after the Green Goblin and New York in pieces – a ravaged city that was prepared to just give up and curse the gods at this point – MJ followed Peter around like a dog, eyes peeled for any sign of the spider, any one movement that should have made it clear to him who Spider-Man was long ago.

Peter let him, looking awkwardly pleased whenever MJ appeared around yet another corner to walk with him. They were going to Gwen's place – she couldn't leave the house as often as she used to, and MJ had already charmed the doorman completely the second time he was over, so Peter really had no excuse. “I mean, it's just so awesome,” MJ was saying, his hands large and expressive as they cut through the air in front of him. “Terrifying, yes, and absolutely horrible that you'd keep it from me, but also incredibly fucking awesome.”

Peter shrugged. “It's pretty cool,” he allowed, and yelped with laughter when MJ cut him a narrow-eyed look.

“Let me look at the web shooters again,” MJ demanded, and Peter obliged him, handing him his wrist on the bright, open streets of Brooklyn – MJ cradled it with the sort of delicate touch he might expect from Gwen, and it would be just as unnecessary coming from her, but Peter didn't really mind.

Gwen let them in with a wide smile, her brothers involved in a screaming match behind her. “Don't mind them,” she said, “Simon stumbled over the PS3 cable while Howie and Philip were playing Battlefield.”

Peter nodded sagely, and MJ punched him in the arm. Gwen just took them in, still smiling, and when they bent down to take their shoes off, she said,

“Actually, let's go up on the roof. Get away from these childish tantrums.” She raised her voice on the last two words while giving her brothers a stern look, but none of them were particularly affected by it, and her exhalation turned into a sigh.

It was still sunny out, the kind of sunny that made birthday children congratulate themselves on being excellent people – the sun made MJ grin wide, and he looked over the city of New York as if seeing it for the first time. “Is this how it looks all the time, to you?” he asked Peter, who moved to stand beside him.

“Yeah,” Peter said. “Big and terrifying and fragile, like one giant pulsating heart.”

“Have you started paying attention in English class?” Gwen said, bumping his shoulder with her own, and his arm wrapped around her waist like magnets at work. He laughed a little, said,

“Maybe.”

“That's cool and all,” MJ said, “but what's it like to fly?”

“You mean, to launch from one place to another with only the faintest idea of how to land on your feet?”

“That's what I said.”

“It's amazing.”

“Isn't it,” MJ said wistfully. He stepped closer to the ledge, eyes following a red car as it swerved and raced through the streets.

“I could take you,” Peter offered, and Gwen disentangled herself from him, saying,

“Oh no, I'm definitely not coming along for that a second time around –“

“I don't know if I could carry you both, anyway, it's not like I have handles on the suit,” Peter said. Then, “No, no, stop looking at me like that –“

“I'm just saying, it would be a great way to get to school, and I wouldn't ever have to run to catch the bus –“

“If you would get up a little earlier than two minutes before the bus left,” Peter replied.

MJ said, “You have no room to talk here, I haven't seen you on that bus in ages, I know you're swinging or something, it's only fair that I –“

“Man, I have a board!”

“Guys,” Gwen said, looking between the two until they stopped talking. “Maybe you shouldn't choose the one day people would notice you,” she suggested, and Peter frowned while MJ sighed theatrically in despair.

“Not only don't I find out my best friend's Spider-Man until everyone and their mom already knows, I don't even get to cash in on the benefits,” he said.

“Best friend?” Peter repeated, brow furrowing, while Gwen said,

“It's just us three that know, still. You're still part of the cool gang, MJ,” which made him smile brilliantly.

“That's something,” he said. “And yeah, best friend, of course. Well, one of them, anyway,” he trailed off, making eyes at Gwen until she laughed.

“It's mutual, of course,” she replied, because Peter seemed to still be stuck on best friends, and one of them had to say something.

“Good!” MJ said enthusiastically. “Now, esteemed arachnid fellow, showest me all thy moves!”

“You know, reading a couple of Shakespeare plays doesn't entitle you to speak like that –“

“Shut up and do a roundhouse kick, Peter.”

*

And then, after prom and corsages and everything falling into place, they were just them, a trio finding their rhythm in each other.

“I've got a new internship,” Gwen said, smile so wide it hurt. She was sitting leaning against Peter's knees, and both of them were leaning forward to clearly see MJ on Gwen's computer screen. He was out of town for a shoot, and the jittery energy of travel was still apparent in his posture. “At the Baxter building.”

“What?” MJ said, while Peter sputtered,

“You didn't tell me that!”

“I wanted to tell you both together,” Gwen said, still grinning. Her speakers crackled with the force of MJ's “Congratulations!”

“That's so cool,” Peter said, and turned to look at her properly. A smile was growing on his face. “I mean, Dr. Richards is a huge inspiration –“

“Peter, before you delve into a three hour lecture, kiss Gwen for me,” MJ said. Gwen laughed, nuzzling her face with Peter's before she kissed him.

“We'll have to celebrate when you get home,” she said to MJ, and he agreed enthusiastically.

“Dr. Richards,” Peter said again, almost reverently. Gwen smirked, said,

“I know.”

“I didn't even know he had interns, he seems like such a control freak.”

“All scientists need someone to do the grunt work,” Gwen said. “Apparently.”

“Hey, Gwen, you worked for that guy who turned into a lizard too, right?” MJ said, and only realized his faux pas when both Peter and Gwen fell silent. “Shit, I'm sorry –“

“It's okay,” Gwen said. “I did, yeah. Then Dr. Ross had that three-month project, I helped with that a little bit thanks to my experience with Dr. Connors, but I haven't worked with anyone since her.”

MJ beamed. “That's awesome, then. Just don't leave us for that lame guy.”

“I don't know,” Gwen said, laughing a little when Peter's arms tightened around her. “No, I'm pretty happy where I am.”

*

As soon as Peter was on his way home, MJ called him. “You need to buy her flowers,” he said.

“Hi again,” Peter said. “Uhm, why?”

MJ made a noise of frustration. “Because I'm not there to do it. And because I brought up Connors.”

“Yeah, that was pretty tactless,” Peter said distractedly, weaving his way through the crowd of pedestrians.

“Oh, because you're so stellar at human interaction,” MJ replied, and Peter laughed.

“No, but I thought that was why I had you. Anyway, it's okay,” he said. “I'm pretty sure she doesn't hate you.”

“Still,” MJ said firmly. “Buy her flowers from me, and tell her I love her and that she's the best woman on Earth.”

“MJ, come on, you know what happens when I try to say stuff like that,” Peter complained.

“Yeah, so ditch the half a minute of stuttering first. 'I, uh, MJ, uhm, well, you're, uh, kinda great',” MJ said in a poor imitation of Peter's voice.

“Hey, it worked, didn't it?”

“Unfortunately,” MJ said, sounding so despairing that Peter couldn't help but laugh.

“Okay,” he said. “I'll buy Gwen flowers. Shit, working under Dr. Richards, can you imagine? She's so amazing, not many would get that opportunity.”

“You're not so bad either,” MJ said. “For a given value of amazing, anyway. And don't,” he added before Peter could reply, “make an Amazing Spider-Man crack. I might be forced to hang up.”

“We can't have that,” Peter said. “Remember when you couldn't stop talking about Spider-Man? I miss those days.”

“Well, you were the one to shatter the illusion,” MJ said. “Okay, I do actually have to go, I promised I'd meet Emma. Remember the flowers, love you.”

“You, uh, same here,” Peter said, and disconnected the call to the sound of MJ's laughter.

*

“These are ruined,” MJ said suspiciously, a week and a half later. The bouquet – if it even qualified for that term – sat on Gwen's windowsill, pushed to the side so the window could be easily opened and shut. “Why are they ruined?”

“They were beautiful,” Peter protested.

“At some point, probably,” Gwen said, and shrugged when Peter gave her a betrayed look. When MJ actually looked disappointed, she hurried to add, “I like them. They have character.”

“I guess,” MJ said, poking one of the flowers and looking horrified when four petals promptly fell off. “I'll buy you new ones.”

“That's not necessary,” Gwen said. “You're here, that's better than flowers any day.”

MJ turned to her with a pleased smile, and she smiled shyly back. Neither she nor Peter expressed affection as easily or as grandiosely as MJ, but he was constantly amazed by the little things they did for him and each other, the quiet way they accommodated and appreciated the other two. “Thanks,” he said sincerely, and then the moment was broken by the sound of Peter's books sliding off Gwen's bed and to the floor.

*

“I don't know what you're doing,” Gwen's mom told her, once she had showed the boys the door. “But as long as you're safe, I trust you.”

“I'm happy,” Gwen said, almost embarrassed by how true it was.

Her mother smiled. “I'm glad."

**Author's Note:**

> i'm also 1k into another fic in this verse, so hang around for that! you can subscribe to the series here, and i'll also post about it on [tumblr](http//keptein.tumblr.com/). uwu


End file.
